Help stop the pet overpopulation problem by making a $10 suggested donation at the door and enjoying happy hour throughout the entire event, a pool tournament, drink specials including $4 beers, well drinks and house wine, and a raffle.

Attendees who bring a bag of dog food will get five extra raffle tickets!

Rocket Bar is at 714 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.

If you can’t make the Rocket Bar event, consider making an online donation to Lucky Dog’s Critical Care Fund. Two Lucky Dogs in foster homes have been hit by cars in the past few weeks, and the surgeries to save them cost $14,000. You can read about Frankie, Spot and the other dogs who have needed life-saving medical care on Lucky Dog’s blog here.

Click on the photo to read Spot's story

Lucky Dog Animal Rescue is an all-volunteer, non-profit animal rescue organization dedicated to saving the lives of homeless animals and educating the community on responsible pet ownership. Most Lucky Dogs come from high-kill shelters in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and are brought to the D.C. area where they stay with volunteer foster families until they are placed in their forever homes.

Spaying and neutering pets will help stop the unneccessary killing of more than 3 million dogs and cats in shelters across America every year.

It sounds like the organizers have pulled together an event that’s a step above the run-of-the-mill D.C. fundraiser dried-out chicken-on-a-skewer appetizers and so-so selection of silent auction items!

For example, the menu for Martinis for Mutts features scrumptious-sounding hors d’oeuvres including lime cilantro jumbo shrimp, calypso meatballs with mango chipotle sauce, and Peruvian spiced chicken with carmelized onions in petite phyllo cups.

And the grand door prize is a private home in the New Orleans French Quarter for a weekend and two plane tickets. Other raffle and silent auction items include a week at an 18th century home in a south central French village at the base of the Pyrenees mountains, bed and breakfast stays, professional architecture and construction services, Caps hockey tickets, gift certificates and gift baskets from local shops and restaurants, dog photo portraits, and more.

Tickets are $75 and are available online at www.FoundersDogPark.com. Only 100 tickets will be sold.

Download the event flyer for more information.

Founders Park is on the Alexandria waterfront at 351 North Union Street. The dog exercise area is located in the north west corner at Oronoco and North Union Streets. (map)

Held at Madison Square Garden, Westminster showcases the finest, fairest  and fluffiest dog breed champions from around the country.

The 2011 Best in Show winner was a native Virginian, a 5-year-old Scottish Deerhound from Warrenton named Hickory (see photo, from www.westminsterkennelclub.org).

The day after her big win Hickory went on a whirlwind media tour, visiting The Today Show, The Early Show, Good Day New York, Fox and Friends, Martha, Bloomberg News, Fox News, press events at the Empire State Building and Sardi’s Restaurant and meeting Donald Trump.

The most popular breeds entered at this year’s show are Rhodesian Ridgeback (40), French Bulldogs (39) and Labradors (38). A total of 2,077 dogs are entered, representing all of the 185 eligible breeds and varieties.

Breeds eligible for and entered at Westminster for the first time include American English Coonhounds, Cesky Terriers, Norwegian Lundehunds, Entlebucher Mountain Dogs, Finnish Lapphunds, and Xoloitzcuintlis.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. And I wanted to know too.

A) What is a Xoloitzcuintli? And B) How the heck do you pronounce it??

According to the American Kennel Club, a Xoloitzcuintli is an ancient, natural breed  from Mexico that comes in three sizes – toy, miniature and standard, and two varieties –  hairless and coated.  It is pronounced “show-low-eats-queen-tlee.”

Here is the television schedule:

NIGHT 1: Monday, February 13

Hound, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding Groups

8-9 p.m. (ET) live on USA Network, 9-11 p.m. (ET) live on CNBC

NIGHT 2: Tuesday, February 14

Sporting, Working and Terrier Groups, Best In Show

8-11 p.m. (ET) live on USA Network

But one of the great things about the Washington, D.C., area is the wide variety of neighborhoods and places you can go to walk your dog.

For example, did you know Arlington Cemetery is dog-friendly?

The cemetery encompasses 624 acres, and there are more than 30 monuments and memorials you can visit during your stroll, including the President John F. Kennedy gravesite and the Eternal Flame.

Dogs must be on a leash at all times, and make sure to bring plenty of bags to collect waste. You may have to carry it with you for a bit, but there are trash containers to be found within the cemetery grounds.

Dogs can go anywhere on the grounds people are allowed, just make sure to keep them on the sidewalk in places where there are fences or chains to protect the grass, such as around the Edward or Robert Kennedy gravesites.

Dogs aren’t allowed in the visitors’ center, where the water fountains and restrooms are located, or other buildings. I recommend bringing a human companion for your walk, so one of you can wait outside with the dog while the other uses the facilities and/or fills a water bowl for the dog.

You definitely want to be sensitive to the other visitors, especially if you go near Section 60 in the southeast part of the cemetery, where the military personnel killed in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are buried. There are often recently-bereaved families visiting graves here who may not appreciate being approached by a dog. Many graves also have mementos from visitors on them, including stuffed animals and colored glass pebbles that signify someone has visited the grave that you don’t want your dog to mistake for toys or treats.

The cemetery opens at 8:00 a.m. year-round, and closes at 5:00 p.m. October-March and 7:00 p.m. April-September.

Obviously, if you’ve got your dog and it’s not an official service dog, you can’t take Metro. But parking at the cemetery is plentiful and costs just $1.75 for the first three hours, which is well worth the cost to get a change of scenery from your usual walking route and–more importantly–the opportunity to pay respects to those who have so honorably served our country.

Lebanese Taverna supports the AWLA in many ways, including catering the wildly popular annual Catsino Night fundraiser held in November at Reagan National Airport’s historic old terminal lobby.

If your social calendar is already full for the next two nights, you can still participate by going to Lebanese Taverna’s website, buying a gift card and using the promotional code “AWLA.”

The restaurant’s two locations are:

Pentagon Row, 1101 South Joyce St., Arlington 22202

Westover, 5900 Washington Blvd., Arlington, 22205

The starting lineup features 20 puppies from rescue organizations and shelters around the country. Pictured is Lucie, an 11-week-old Pit Bull/Collie mix from the Pennsylvania SPCA.

Check out these adorable behind-the-scenes pictures with some pooped pups.

Also on the show this year are kittens, pigs and hamsters in various roles as cheerleaders, halftime entertainers and aerial view blimp pilots. Meep the bird will be live tweeting the action.

If you’re going to a Super Bowl party, make sure to set your DVR to record two hours of mindless feel-good entertainment. Where else do you get to see a whole bunch of puppies wrestling, chasing and having a blast just being cute?

Watch the final moments of last year’s Puppy Bowl:

Pet owners whose household income is less than $40,000 a year (proof of household income is required) can have their male cat neutered for $25 or their female cats and male/female dogs spayed/neutered for $50.

These fees are even lower than the AWLA’s normal low-cost spay/neuter program, which is available year-round to pet owners with a household income that is less than $40,000. Normal low-cost spay/neuter prices range from $75-$122 for cats, $120-155 for dogs (depending on weight and sex).

Spay/neuter costs at veterinary clinics in the Washington, D.C., area can run up to $400 or more for female dogs.

Pet owners must be available to drop off their animals the morning of their spay appointment and pick up their animals that same evening. Spay Day pricing is only available in February. There are limited appointments available, so qualified pet owners are encouraged to register their pets soon by contacting Kimberly Harman at kharman@awla.org or (703) 931-9241, ext. 246.

The effort is part of the Humane Society of the United States’ World Spay Day, which is Tuesday, February 28. The League hopes to spay/neuter at least 50 pets in February to help reduce pet overpopulation.

Find out more information about the AWLA’s Spay Day 2012.

If you already have a dog, why not consider welcoming another into your home?

The AWLA has a lot of dogs who need a forever home, including 11-month-old Hudson, who I met on our walk tonight when he was out for a stroll with one of the AWLA volunteers. He caught my eye because he looks like a bigger, fluffier version of Sundae, and the volunteer told me they think he’s a mix of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Hudson is very friendly, with beautiful expressive brown eyes, and a goofy, happy demeanor. He and Sundae immediately hit it off, chasing each other as far as their leashes would allow.

See pictures and learn more information about Hudson here.

The LeashLocket has a flat nylon tape-style six-foot long leash that retracts into a small plastic case that can be gripped in your palm.

I tried out the large size (pictured), which weighs less than 4 oz. and is recommended for use with dogs up to 90 lbs. There is also a small, for dogs up to 55 lbs.

The LeashLocket fits comfortably in your hand, and is less bulky than other retractable leashes. It has a button on the top that is easy to reach in order to lock the leash at a specific length, and to release it.

There is a small strap with a magnet on it that you snap onto your dog’s collar. When you want your dog to carry the LeashLocket, you clip it onto the strap and the magnet holds it in place.

For those times when you need to use both your hands, there is an optional wrist strap you can order that lets the LeashLocket hang from your wrist.

I found this very convenient for some situations, like when I needed to pick up poop or reach into my pocket for my keys. But when I used the wrist strap while walking or running, the LeashLocket banged against my hand and leg, so it’s probably best to grip it in your hand while walking.

The Leash Locket worked well with a 40-lb. Cocker Spaniel (pictured) who lives in New York City. The small size, retractable leash and wrist strap made it very convenient for a well-behaved dog in city crowds.

For a large a Retriever, though, I didn’t feel like I had as much control as I do with a regular 1-inch wide leash that has a looped end that I can wrap around my hand when the dog pulls. The leash itself is very strong, the company’s website says independent testing of the large size withstood a pull force of up to 280 lbs. But I need something to brace with when my dogs see one of their puppy buddies down the sidewalk, or a squirrel races up a tree right in front of us, and the LeashLocket case–it’s only about 4 inches across–wasn’t big enough to get a strong, solid grip on.

Overall, I think the LeashLocket could be a convenient alternative for owners of small to medium, older and less active, or very well-behaved dogs.

The Leash Locket sells online at www.leashlocket.com for $24.99 plus $4.99 shipping. The optional wrist strap is $3.95.

Here’s a link to an instructional video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJD0g5w3Kv0

I was asked to write a review of the LeashLocket for this blog and given the product at no cost to test.

The stamps feature four designs:

• a guide dog assisting a blind woman
• a military dog scouting and track­ing
• a therapy dog visiting an elderly woman
• a search and rescue dog in a field

Artist John M. Thompson created original paintings for the stamps, which were designed by art direc­tor Howard E. Paine.

It’s not the first time the Post Office has celebrated loyal canines. In July 2011, a commemorative stamp was issued in honor of Owney, a scruffy mutt who became a regular fixture at the Albany, N.Y., post office in 1888 and eventually rode the Railway Post Office (RPO) train cars across the country and became the RPO’s unofficial mascot.

Read Owney’s story here.

In 2010, The Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet, a set of 10 commemorative 44-cent first class stamps was issued featuring photographs of dogs and cats from shelters in order to raise awareness of the importance of adopting from shelters.

The working dogs stamps go on sale at post offices nationwide and online at www.usps.com/shop today.

Through online voting in the November Pepsi Refresh Contest, Lab Rescue received enough votes to place in the top 10 and receive the grant to fund the development of a web-based rescue management system.

According to Lab Rescue’s monthly newsletter the Fetch, “The web-based rescue management system will enable us to cost effectively manage our complex rescue operations, enabling us to save more Labs.”

Lab Rescue is a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers that rescues, fosters and places homeless, abused, or abandoned Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retriever-Labrador Retriever mixes in the mid-Atlantic area.

In 2011, Lab Rescue volunteers rescued 902 labs, a record for the organization. The number of labs they’ve rescued has increased 37 percent since 2008.

They currently have more than 30 labs awaiting their forever homes, from as young as two litters of 6-week-old black lab puppies (see picture below) to an elderly pair of 11-year-old labs, Smokey and Bandit. See them all here.